Chenille fabric



Sept. 27, 1932. R B KALBACH 1,879,691

' CHENILLE FABRIC Original Filed Aug. 27, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l BY ATTORNEY.

Sept. 27, 1932. R, KALBACH 1,879,691

CHENILLE FABRI 0 Original Filed Alig. 27, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (NIH! A TTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 27, 1932 UNITED STATES RAYMOND .B. .KALBACH, or PHILADELPHIA; PEnNsY vANIA CHENILLE FABRIC Original application filed August 27, 193i Serial No. 477,998. Divided and. this application filed June 24,

This invention, stated in its broadest terms, relates to chenille formation and has more especial relation to the fabrication of which I choose to term braid chenille, the present application being a division of my co-pending application for method of and apparatus for making chenille fabric, filed August 27, 1930, Serial No. 477,998.

As is well known in the art, chenille is manufactured upon a loom, the disadvantages of which are numerous. As an example, chenille as woven upon a loom may be readily pulled apart because the weft yarn is not efficiently bound by the warp yarn. Again, chenille as woven upon a loom is restricted as to its shape or form and its color schemes for obvious reasons.

This invention has for its leading object to overcome the above and other disadvantages of weaving chenille upon a loom by forming chenille upon a braiding or twisting machine whereby fiat braid chenille having one or more cores forming a base may be fabricated, or a double pile braid chenille may be made with or without any cores to form a base in which the strands of yarn going to make up the chenille in both instances cannot be readily separated, and likewise in which the color scheme is expansive since as many as one hundred or more colors, shades, or tones may be effected approximately covering one inch or less throughout the extent of the chenille.

A further object of the present invention is to fabricate braid chenille upon a braiding 0r twisting machine, whereby strands of material such as wool, cotton, jute, paper, rags, and the like may be employed in the making of chenille in accordance with the invention.

A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of apparatus embodying novel features designed to produce chenille of the character stated in the foregoing objects.

WVith these and related objects in view, the invention consists of the novel method and apparatus for producing braid chenille as hereinafter described and finally claimed.

The nature, characteristic features and scope of the invention will be more fully un- Serial No. 546,490.

derstood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is'a view in front elevation of a novel braiding machine arranged for the 1 manufacture of braid chenillein accordance with the present invention; I

Fig. 2 is. a view in side elevationvof the upper part of Fig. 1; h

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the sewing machine parts as shown in the foregoing figures in detached relation; i

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective illustrating the position of the braid with relation to the sewing machine cutting device for the severing of yarn to complete chenille;

Fig. 5 is a View in cross-section of the braid prior to beingpresented for. the severing of yarn to form chenille;

'Fig. 6 is a similarview illustrating the t braid yarn as severed to form what may be termed single edge chenille;

Fig. 7 is a'similar view illustrating the yarn severed to form what may be termed coreless double edge chenille;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in crosssection of my novel chenille fabric; and

Fig. 9 is a view of the underside of Fig. 8.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention I have shown in the accompanying drawings one form thereof which is at present preferred by me, since the same has been found in practice to givesatisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral 10 designates the main driving shaft of a braiding machine of any desired type which shaft is operably connected to drive in a tortuous path a plurality ofbobbins 11, so that the yarn 12 from the bobbins 11 is twisted together in the shape of the figure 8 shown in Fig. 5, as is well understood in the art of fashioning braid. In braid formation the yarn 12 is drawn upfixed to vertical shaft 21, which is operably connected by means of bevel gear wheels 22 and 23 with the main driving shaft 10, see- Fig. 1. The cross horizontal shaft 15 as operated in the manner just set forth hasfix'ed thereto a gear wheel24 in mesh with a gear; wheel 25 fixed to a short shaft 27 paralleling shaft 15 and journalled in a bracket 28, so that as the main driving shaft 10 operates the braiding mechanism the rollers 13 and 14 operate to draw upwardly the yarn from the bobbins and feed the braid as formed in a relatively fiat condition to stitching and'cutting mechanism to be presently described as mounted thereabove, it being understood that the above described parts are properly timed to efficiently function. The braiding machine is provided adjacent the bobbins 1 1 with a fixed hollow member 29 through which yarn 30 to form a core or stulfer is drawnupwardly over roller 31 to a fixed tubular guide 32, best seen in Fig. 1, it being understood that the core yarn 30 passes along with the yarn 12 between the rollers 13 and 14 before described. In opposed relation with respect to member 29 through which the core yarn 30 is fed is a fixed support 33 secured to which is a relatively thin bar 34 of rectangular cross-section which extends upwardly in parallelism withthe path of travel of the core yarn and binding yarn, as plainly seen in Fig. 1, between the rollers 13 and 14 and terminates adjacent sewing mechanism to be presently described. This fixed bar 34 is inclined at 35 to about the same inclination as the tubular guide 32 so as tobe free of the travel of the-bobbins 11. The upper end of the inclined guide 32 is provided with an upwardly extended, flaring, open ended tip 36 which extends substantially in parallelism with the vertical portion of fixed guide bar 34 above its inclined portion 35 and lies in close juxtaposition to said vertical portion of bar 34 immediately above the bobbins 11. In practice as the core yarn and blnding yarn, which latter is usually colored and the tints, shades, and combinations of which are practically unlimited, are fed together to the position AA in Fig. 1, at which point the core yarn 30 and fixed bar 34 has braided with respect thereto the binding yarn 12, it

being understood that as the feed. rollers 13 and 14 draw upwardly the combined yarns, those strands of the binding yarn which surround the fixed bar 34, as plainly seen in Fig. 5, are sufliciently loose to be readily guided over and along the bar 35 to stitching mechanism now to be described.

that its needle 41, connected with respect to conventional operating lever 42, operative by "connections with thedrive shaft 43 of the has pivoted to its free end a horizontally extended link 47 which link in turn has pivotal relation at 48 with the movable cutter blade 49 of a severing device. The movable blade 49 has pivotal relation at 51 with the upper portion of the yarn guide bar 34 and the fixed blade of the cutting device is formed integral with the guide bar 34 which latter is rigidly secured at 52to'a fixed bracket 53 carried by the sewing machine. The cutting device is mounted immediately above the needle 41 of the sewing machine and the bar 1 34 is so arranged that it passes to one side of the needle in order to permitproper functioning of the needle in making'a line of stitches 54, see Fig. 5,between the core-filled strands and the strands covering the bar 34,'said line of stitches paralleling the core and bar. In

.orderto properly direct the braided material 'with respect to the needle 41 a guide 55 of U-shaped cross-section is provided, see Fig.

3, adjustable by wing nuts 56 coacting with a slot 57 ,insaid guide. In-order to drive the sewing machine shaft 43 which operates the needle 41 through lever 42 I provide a horizontally arranged pulley 58 upon vertical shaft 21 and connect the same with vertically arranged pulley 59 upon shaft 43 of the sewing machine by means of a belt 60"passing over guide rollers 61, see Fig. 1. WVith the braided material stitched as described it becomes necessaryto cutor sever the yarn 12 surrounding the fixed guide bar 34 to form the pile threads '61, see Fig. 6, for the production'of chenille. The severing blade 49 previously described functions in connection with the edge of the fixed bar34 to severthe loops of the binding yarn 12 which surrounds said bar, as clearly-illustrated in Fig. 4. In

' order to pull the braided material steadily away from the severing device in orderto obtain aclean cut, I provide friction rollers 62 and 63 mounted upon shafts 64 and 65,-provided with meshing gear wheels to operate in unison, shaft 63 having fixed thereto a pulley 66 connected by belt 67 with a driving pulley '68 fixed to cross shaft15, as best seen in'Fig;

2. The chenille thus produced is drawn over roller 69 and guided through the horizontally arranged, fixed tube 7 0 between the friction rollers 64 and 65 and thence downwardly over roller 71 supported upon upright 7 2, which also carries the friction roller shafts 64 and 65. It will be understood that the above operation is continuous and uninterrupted and that the braiding, stitching, and severing operations occur in sequential relation until the finished chenille passes from the apparatus as shown in Fig. 2.

It now becomes necessary to fabricate the chenille thus fashioned upon a braiding machine into a suitable article of manufacture, usually a rug or other floor covering, although obviously the commodities which may be formed of my novel chenille are not restricted thereto. Assuming for the purpose of illustration that a floor covering is to be made, I assemble the core containing portions of the chenille in alignment, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, and stitch together as at 73 adjacent core containing portions.

In case a double pile chenille without a core is desired, a pair of the fixed guide bars 34 are employed, and instead of braiding or twisting the strands of yarn around the core 30, as before described, the yarn is braided or twisted around both guide bars and sewn and the loops severed as shown in Fig. 7.

In case a double pile chenille with a core is desired a pair of guide bars 34: are employed, one upon each side of the core, and those loops enclosing the core are sewn and severed as before described.

In the above description I have referred to the chenille as being formed upon a braiding machine because in practice the chenille thus formed has proven to be for commercial purposes most satisfactory. Practice dictates, however, that my chenille may be made upon a so-called twisting machine in which a strip of material, spirally wound, may be fabricated and cut to form chenille. The specification and claims accordingly are to be interpreted to include any continuous strip of material formed of yarn the strands of which are braided, plaited, or spirally wound and bound together and severed as described.

What is claimed is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a chenille fabric of yarn formed into a continuous strip of material which is provided with a line of stitches in parallelism with the side edges of said strip, at least one side edge of a strip being cut to provide a pile, said strip of material having associated therewith a plurality of similar strips arranged side by side, adjacent strips being sewn together.

2. As a. new article of manufacture, a chenille fabric formed of yarn spirally wound into a continuous strip of material which is provided with a line of binding threads in parallelism with the side edges of said strip, at least one side edge of a strip being cut to provide a pile, said strip of mate-v 

